The local effort to enroll uninsured Americans in the Affordable Care Act's new health care exchanges got a boost Tuesday when Lawrence's Heartland Community Health Center was awarded a federal grant to provide outreach for the new law.

The clinic plans to use the $66,040 in funding to hire an outreach/enrollment worker and train some of its AmeriCorps members on Affordable Care Act outreach and education. They will be available to help not only Heartland's patients but anyone in the Lawrence area who needs assistance in understanding the new health care act.

"We want the whole community to know that we're here to help them find an affordable health insurance option," said Ali Edwards, development director for Heartland Community Health Center. "These workers will be extensively trained in the application process and will be very knowledgable about each plan."

The grant was part of $150 million in federal assistance announced Tuesday by Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, that will help nearly 1,200 community health centers across the nation — including 16 in Kansas operating 49 sites — sign people up for the Affordable Care Act's online exchanges. Uninsured Americans who make between 100 and 400 percent of the federal poverty level will be eligible for tax credits toward the purchase of premiums on the new insurance marketplaces, which begin open enrollment Oct. 1.

Heartland expects to sign up at least 650 people during the exchange's open-enrollment period, which concludes at the end of March. During that time, insurers are required to admit customers regardless of pre-existing medical conditions. The local outreach workers won't be directing enrollees toward any specific health plan, Edwards said, simply the one that best fits their individual needs.

So we are spending $150M to sign up people for a program that wastes more money. Fabulous use of taxpayer money. That's about as good as advertising for Food assistance and WIC on billboards. Just in case you are so lazy you can't be bothered to get off your couch to collect your handouts, we'll come to you.

It's hard to put lipstick on a pig...this Obamacare law is a disgrace to the cause of healthcare...it needs to be repealed and replaced with positive market driven approaches that reduce cost and give incentives to personal responsibilty in health care. The government is doing nothing more than destroying the finest health care system in the world by reducing it to some kind of of half-baked government run system. Shame on Obama and his minions...shame...shame...shame.